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Redesigning Skills


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For a potential Fire Emblem Warriors 2, let's talk about how character and weapon skill builds might be made more fun, balanced, deep, and interesting.

 

This is meant as a bit of a companion thread to my other suggestion thread, Differentiating Clones. Suggestions 3 (built in skills for every prf weapon) and 4 (every character gets their own personal skill for free) can be balanced with the suggestions below. Namely, characters/weapons with inherently really good skills (like Ryoma) can be balanced with the suggestions herein. However, the ideas below can also stand on their own.

 

Part 1 - Elite Skills

Some skills would be intentionally overpowered and build-defining. You would only be able to have one Elite Skill per character and one Elite Skill per weapon, which includes the inherent skills of the weapon or character. Meaning that characters like Ryoma (Astra) and weapons like the Wing Spear (with its Rampager skill) would have their elite skill inherently and be unable to slot in one.

For most/every elite skill, there would also be a non-elite equivalent allowing you to have the fun of said skill but more balanced. If Astra, the elite skill, is 25% increased attack speed, the lesser version Darting Blow, is 15% increased attack speed.

 

In regards to weapon skills, Elite skills would include (but not be limited to) the following:

Amped (+20% to all stats)

Acceleration (+25% attack speed)

Rampager (effectiveness vs. cavalry and armored)

Monster Hunter (effectiveness vs. beasts and dragons)

Glue Factory (effectiveness vs. cavalry and fliers)

Smasher (effectiveness vs. armored and dragons)

Manslayer (effectiveness vs. infantry)

Ultimate Warrior (Chance for Warrior attacks to do double damage)

 

Part 2 - Rebalancing Skills

Certain skills will need tweaking because they are fundamentally devoid of battle.

 

HP +50 (Sakura) -> HP +30%. Removes HP cap.

Strength +10 (Lissa) -> Strength +20%.

Magic +10 (Leo) -> Magic +20%.

Speed +10 (Caeda) -> Speed +20%.

Skill +10 (Takumi) -> Skill +20%.

Luck +20 (Celica) -> Luck +20%.

Defense +10 (Hinoka) -> Defence +20%.

Resistance +10 (Elise) -> Resistance +20%.

 

Pass (Lyn) - In addition to preventing interruption while moving, now also boosts Movement speed by 10%.

Armored Blow (Tiki -> Oboro) - In addition to preventing interruption while attacking, also decreases damage taken while attacking by 25%.

Counter (Oboro -> Tiki) - Counter shockwaves are now guaranteed and damage scales based on user's Defence. When in Awakening mode, all hits taken by user also generate shockwaves. Pavise/Aegis and Pair Up Guard also trigger shockwaves.

Potent Potion (Rowan) - Now also adds an extra potion use.

Live to Serve (Lianna) - Now also adds an extra staff use.

Vengeance (Tharja) – Instead of draining health over time, now reduces the character to 40% health at start of match and blocks off the other 60% hp (can’t be healed past this point). Does not constitute damage taken for map ranks. Triggers any skill that works below 50% hp.

 

Part 3 - Swapping Skills

 

Where anti-synergy is present between a character and a skill, it should be swapped with another character.

Namely, Niles and Navarre should swap skills (Lone Wolf and Lethality) due to Niles' anti-social personality and poor Luck for Lethality.

Tiki should swap Armored Blow with Oboro, as her focus on Awakening mode makes Armored Blow redundant.

 

Part 4 - Classifying Skills

 

Like weapon skills, character skills would be separated into categories. I've included an example roster with example skills below. All numbers are for illustrative purposes only, though I tried to keep things relatively balanced.

 

Drop (Unlimited)

Drop skills affect the growth of your team through xp, item drops, support ranks, etc. These skills will have no restrictions and no elite skills, as they have no impact on combat performance.

 

Marth (SD) - Paragon - 2x Exp for equipped character. (Stacks). On Marth, this also increases all of his stats (except Mov) by 5%.

Anna (Awakening) - Payday - 2x gold drops. (Stacks) On Anna, this also increases damage dealt by 1% per 1,000 gold earned in a stage.

Byleth (3H) - Tutelage - 25% increased experience for all party members (excluding user). (Stacks). On Byleth, this also increases all stats (except Mov) by 3%.

Lysithea (3H) - Mastermind - Increases rate of weapon skill acquisition. (x2 per KO). On Lysithea, this also increases Magic and Skill by 10%.

Sylvain (3H) - Smooth Talker - Doubles speed of support rank acquisition. (Stacks). On Sylvain, this also increases damage dealt by 3% per deployed female ally.

Naesala (RD) - Piracy - Increases rate of weapon drops and rare weapon skill drops. (Stacks). On Naesala, this also increases damage by 20% for 20 seconds after a weapon drop.

Alm (SoV) – Hard Worker – Doubles material drops from captains and heroes. (Stacks) On Alm, this also increases damage dealt by 3% per material drop for 15 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

 

Boost (Limit 2)

Boost skills improve your character's stats or direct combat performance.

 

Ryoma (Fates) - Astra - Elite Skill. 25% increased attack speed. (Stacks with other sources up to 33%).

Sothe (RD) Aptitude - Elite Skill. 20% to all stats (excluding Mov). (Stacks with other sources).

Lewyn (Geneology) - Windborne Speed - Elite Skill. Increases Attack Speed by 15% and gives user a chance to dodge attacks based on Speed stat. Dodges trigger Counter. (Stacks with other sources up to 33% attack speed).

Hector (Blazing Sword) - Wrath - Elite Skill. Increases damage and critical hit damage while below 50% health.

Sakura (Fates) - HP +30% (Removes HP cap). (Stacks with other sources).

Lissa (Awakening) - Strength +20% (Stacks with other sources).

Leo (Fates) - Magic +20% (Stacks with other sources).

Caeda (SD) - Speed +20% (Stacks with other sources).

Takumi (Fates) - Skill +20% (Stacks with other sources).

Celica (SoV) - Luck +20% (Stacks with other sources).

Hinoka (Fates) - Defense +30%. (Stacks with other sources).

Elise (Fates) - Resistance +30% (Stacks with other sources).

Bernadetta (3H) - Desperation - Increases attack speed by 33% while below 50% health. (Does not stack).

Roy (Binding Blade) - Quick Riposte - Increases attack speed by 33% while at full health. (Does not stack).

Elincia (RD) - Darting Blow. Increases attack speed by 15%. (Stacks with other sources up to 33%). 

Petra (3H) - Hunt - Increases damage by 50% against foes with less than 50% health.

Yuri (3H) - Honorable Spirit - Increases damage against foes with neutral weapon triangle status by 50%. (ie: If Yuri with a sword attacks foes with a sword, bow, tome, etc.)

 

Focus (Limit 2)

These situational skills define builds and create gameplay.

 

Olivia (Awakening) - Galeforce - Elite Skill. Warrior and Awakening Gauges fill when defeating strong enemies.

Linde (SD) - Quick Wit - Critical hits fill Awakening gauge regardless of weapon advantage.

Tharja (Awakening) - Vengeance - User deals 50% more damage. Reduces the character to 40% health at start of match and blocks off the other 60% hp (can’t be healed past this point). Does not constitute damage taken for map ranks. Triggers any skill that works below 50% hp.

Lucina (Awakening) - Awakening - Increases damage dealt while in Awakening/transformed state.

Owain (Awakening) - Resonating Power - Boosts damage dealt based on how close unit’s Str and Mag are.

Camilla (Fates) - Trample - Increases damage dealt to foot soldiers and unnamed captains.

Leif (Thracia) - Adaptive Damage - Attacks target the lower of foe’s Def or Res (using unit’s Str or Mag respectively). Additionally, attacks deal 1% bonus damage per 5% difference in foe’s Def and Res.

 

Social (Limit 3)

These skills are concerned with the unit's ability to support others or themselves through socialization (or the lack thereof).

 

Sharena (Heroes) - Friend of All - Elite Skill. Increases all stats (except Mov) of Vanguard by 15% when paired up. (Stacks)

Camus (SD) - Loyalty - Elite Skill. Increases all of user's stats (except Mov) for each deployed support partner. (C = 1%, B = 2.25%, A = 3.5%). (Stacks).

Felix (3H) - Independent - Elite Skill. Warrior and Awakening gauges charge 50% faster while not paired up.

Eirika (Sacred Stones) - Camaraderie - Elite Skill. When paired up with another unit, increases active character’s damage by 50% when swapping characters. In addition, if user is non-controllable and paired up as the Support unit, they can be swapped to and controlled regardless of stage deployment restrictions. (IE: If stage lets you deploy 4 playable and 4 NPC heroes, an NPC hero with this skill can become the Vanguard if paired up as a Support.)

Niles (Fates) - Lone Wolf - 50% bonus damage while not paired up.

Robin (Awakening) - Solidarity - +25% damage for Vanguard when paired up.

Azura (Fates) - Amateratsu - Heals Vanguard when paired up.

Corrin (Fates) - Dracoshield - Increases Def and Res of Vanguard by 25% when paired up. Pair Up Guard triggers more often. (Stacks)

Seteth (3H) - Guardian - Increases damage of all female party members by 25%. (Excludes user if inherited by female character).

Hilda (3H) - Advocate - Increases damage of all male party members by 25%. (Excludes user if inherited by male character).

Marianne (3H) - Animal Lover - Increases damage of all cavalry, pegasus riders, wyvern riders, beasts, and dragon allies by 25%. (Excludes user).

Linhardt (3H) - Catnap - Restores health, warrior, and awakening gauge over time to Support unit (not Vanguard) when paired up.

Annette (3H) - Rally - When using Strong 1, buff the Movement Speed and Attack Speed of nearby allied heroes and captains by 15% for 15 seconds. (Excludes user).

Constance (3H) - High Class - Increases damage dealt by all allied heroes of noble lineage by 25%. (Excludes user)

Rhea (3H) - Sacred Power - Nearby allied heroes and captains deal 25% more damage and take 25% less damage.

Nasir/Ena (RD) - Boon - Increases Defense and Resistance of all allied heroes by 25%. (Has no effect on user). (Stacks)

Ranulf/Lethe (RD) - Bestial Pride - User deals 10% more damage for every deployed beast or dragon ally.

Ephraim (Sacred Stones) - Courage - If at least 3 enemy captains are nearby, increases damage dealt by 50%.

Lianna or equivalent (Warriors) - Live to Serve - Using a staff heals you by the same amount. Grants an additional staff usage.

Rowan or equivalent (Warriors) - Potent Potion - Using medicine on yourself heals allies by the same amount. Grants an additional medicine usage.

 

Trigger (Limit 2)

These skills proc based on certain conditions, whether it be luck or certain actions.

 

Navarre (SD) - Lethality - Elite Skill. Chance based on Luck & Skill for critical hits to deal much more damage.

Dimitri (3H) - Overwhelming Force - Elite Skill. Chance based on Luck and Skill for Warrior attack to do 1.5x damage and expose break gauge.

Hapi (3H) - Monstrous Appeal - Elite Skill. User deals effective damage to Beast and Dragon foes.

Ike (RD) - Aether - Elite Skill. Critical hits trigger Sol and Luna.

Jaffar (Blazing Sword) - Bloodlust - Elite Skill. After killing an enemy hero or captain, gain Bloodlust for 15 seconds, increasing attack speed by 33% and damage dealt by 50%.

Chrom (Awakening) - Luna - Breaking an enemy's gauge reduces their Def and Res by 75% for 7 seconds. (This applies before the subsequent critical hit).

Cordelia (Awakening) - Sol - Critical hits restore hp based on damage dealt.

Tiki (SD) - Counter - Triggers a shockwave when blocking an attack. Damage scales based on the higher of user’s Defense or Resistance stat. When in Awakening mode, all hits taken by user also generate shockwaves. Pavise/Aegis/Windborne Speed and Pair Up Guard also trigger shockwaves.

Claude (3H) - Dirty Tactics - When scoring a critical hit on a foe, nearby foes also have their break gauges exposed.

Balthus (3H) - Reversal - Warrior attack deals 1.5x damage while below 50% health.

Lilina (Binding Blade) - Special Spiral - Chance based on Luck and Skill to restore 1 bar of Warrior gauge after a Warrior attack.

 

Defense (Limit 3)

Oboro (Fates) - Armored Blow - Elite Skill. Prevents interruption while attacking and decreases damage taken while attacking by 25%.

Minerva (SD) - Iote’s Shield - Nullifies enemy effectiveness

Frederick (Awakening) - Pavise - Chance based on Luck and Skill to halve damage taken from melee attacks.

Xander (Fates) - Aegis - Chance based on Luck and Skill to halve damage taken from ranged attacks.

Micaiah (RD) - Miracle - If unit would be KO’d, restores hp, warrior, and awakening gauges to full once per round.

Lyn (Blazing Sword) - Pass - Prevents interruption while moving and increases movement speed by 10%. (stacks with other sources of movement speed).

Edelgard (3H) - Stride - Increases out of combat movement speed by 25% and restores health and warrior gauge over time while out of combat. (Stacks with other sources of movement speed).

 

 

Build Examples:

 

Contrary to popular belief, open build systems aren't the best way to encourage creativity. As with FEW1, you will only pick the best skills possible. Restrictions breed creativity in attempting to work within them. Here's a few I theorycrafted with the above example rules.

 

Classic Damage

Example users – Ryoma, Chrom, Petra, Navarre

Elite Skill – Astra

Boost (2 of 2) – Astra, Hunt

Trigger (2 of 2) – Luna, Dirty Tactics

Social (1 of 3) – Lone Wolf

Focus (1 of 2) – Trample

 

Berserker

Example Users – Hector, Bernadetta, Tharja, Balthus

Elite Skill – Wrath

Boost (2 of 2) – Wrath, Desperation

Focus (1 of 2) – Vengeance

Trigger (1 of 2) – Reversal

Defense (2 of 3) – Miracle, Armored Blow

 

Unscathed Hero

Example Users – Ike, Roy, and Edelgard

Elite Skill – Aether

Boost (2 of 2) – Quick Riposte

Trigger (2 of 2) – Aether, Dirty Tactics

Social (1 of 3) – Potent Potion

Defense (1 of 3) – Stride

 

Resonating Power

Example Users – Owain, Celica, Leif, Lissa, Cordelia

Elite Skill – Loyalty

Boost (2 of 2) – Strength & Magic +20%

Focus (2 of 2) – Adaptive Damage and Resonating Power

Social (1 of 3) – Loyalty

Trigger (1 of 2) – Luna

(Celica replaces Strength & Magic +20% with Luck +20% and Darting Blow. Cordelia replaces Strength and Magic +20% with Sol and Darting Blow).

 

Ultimate Musuo Warrior

Example Users – Balthus, Dimitri, Tharja, Bernadetta

Elite Skill – Overwhelming Force

Boost (1 of 2) – Desperation

Focus (2 of 2) – Vengeance, Quick Wit

Trigger (2 of 2) – Overwhelming Force, Reversal

Defense (1 of 3) – Miracle

 

Defensive Vanguard

Example Users – Frederick, Xander, Oboro, Hinoka

Elite Skill – Windborne Speed

Boost (2 of 2) – Windborne Speed, Defense +30%

Focus (1 of 2) – Quick Wit

Trigger (1 of 3) – Counter

Defense (2 of 3) – Aegis, Pavise

 

Defensive Support

Example Users – Frederick, Xander, Oboro, Hinoka, Robin

Elite Skill – Camaraderie

Boost (1 of 2) – Defense +30%

Social (3 of 3) – Solidarity, Dracoshield, Amateratsu

Trigger (1 of 3) – Counter

Defense (1 of 3) – Pavise or Aegis

Edited by Fabulously Olivier
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I may as well throw in my two cents from the general describe-your-FEW2 thread.

I tweaked a few existing skills, most notably making it so all Skills that aren't actually useful in battle have a secondary battle use, like Paragon and Payday.

Characters would only have a maximum of five Skill slots, and personal skills cannot be unequipped, so you can only use four inherited Skills at a time.

Since this is a Skill thread I'll sort them by utility, rather than character.

Stat Boost Skills:

  • HP +20% [Sakura]
  • Strength +15% [Lissa]
  • Magic +15% [Leo]
  • Defense +15% [Hinoka]
  • Resistance +15% [Elise]
  • Speed +15% [Caeda]
  • Skill +15% [Takumi]
  • Luck +15% [Celica]
  • Acrobat (+2 Movement) [Saber]

KO Reward Skills:

  • Sol (Unchanged) [Cordelia]
  • Dancing Blade (Increased movement speed for 5 seconds after KOing an enemy captain)
  • Strengthtaker (+1% Strength for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Dorcas]
  • Magictaker (+1% Magic for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Mae]
  • Defensetaker (+1% Defense for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Draug]
  • Resistancetaker (+1% Resistance for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Clair]
  • Skilltaker (+1% Skill for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Severa]
  • Speedtaker (+1% Speed for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Jaffar]
  • Lucktaker (+1% Luck for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Annette]

Offensive Skills:

  • Luna (Unchanged) [Chrom]
  • Aether (Combines the effects of Luna and Sol, at half-effectiveness. Can stack with both for 150% efficiency.) [Ike]
  • Resonating Power (Unchanged) [Owain]
  • Dragonskin (Increases Strength and Magic by 15% of Defense and Resistance, respectively) [Validar]
  • Vengeance (Works the same as before, but self-damage is now enabled manually, via the potion/staff context menu) [Tharja]
  • Trample (Unchanged) [Camilla]
  • Heartseeker (Slightly increases damage dealt to enemies equipped with Swords, Lances, Axes, or Gauntlets) [Gharnef]
  • Anti-Sniper (Slightly increases damage dealt to enemies equipped with Bows, Tomes, Daggers, or Stones) [Ursula]
  • Murderous Intent (Increases damage dealt to named targets by +10%) [Death Knight]
  • Conqueror (Increases damage dealt when in an enemy fortress) [Alm]
  • Outdoor Fighter (Increases damage dealt when not in a fortress) [Eliwood]
  • Persecution Complex (Deal +50% damage for 5 seconds after suffering damage yourself) [Bernadetta]
  • Astra (Unchanged) [Ryoma]

Defensive Skills:

  • Pavise (Also decreases damage taken from Gauntlets now) [Frederick]
  • Aegis (Also reduces damage taken from Daggers now) [Xander]
  • Pass (Unchanged) [Lyn]
  • Armored Blow (Unchanged) [Tiki]
  • Staunch Shield (Decreases damage taken and increases HP regain rate when in an allied fortress) [Dedue]
  • Wary Fighter (Guarding protects the unit from all sides, not just the front) [Lukas]
  • Counter (Unchanged) [Oboro]
  • Counterattack (When guarding, reflects some ranged damage back at attackers) [Berkut]
  • Quick Riposte (Guarding against an enemy attack increases power by 20% for 5 seconds) [Hector]
  • Iote's Shield (Unchanged) [Minerva]

Recovery Skills:

  • Quick Salve (Doubles the number of times Potions can be used per battle) [Boey]
  • Staff Savant (Doubles the number of times Staves can be used per battle) [Flayn]
  • Potent Potion (Unchanged) [Kaze]
  • Live to Serve (Unchanged) [Felicia]
  • Trickery (When using a Potion or Staff, significantly damages surrounding enemies) [Claude]
  • Wrathful Staff (Weaponized Staves such as Freeze and Pain have their potency increased) [Genny]

Meter Regain Skills:

  • Quick Wit (Unchanged) [Linde]
  • Special Spiral (Increases Warrior gauge gain for KOing enemy captains) [Gray]
  • Galeforce (Nerfed to only increase Awakening gauge regain; split in half to make Special Spiral) [Olivia]

Critical Hit Skills:

  • Seal Strength: (Reduces enemy Strength by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Rowan]
  • Seal Defense (Reduces enemy Defense by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Darios]
  • Seal Magic (Reduces enemy Magic by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Lianna]
  • Seal Resistance (Reduces enemy Resistance by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Lysithea]
  • Lethality (Unchanged) [Niles]

 

Stun Gauge Skills:

  • Staggering Blow (When the unit forcefully exposes an enemy's Stun Gauge, slightly increases the duration of Stun Gauge exposure) [Edelgard]
  • Fiendish Blow (Breaking an enemy's white stun gauge is treated the same as breaking a yellow stun gauge) [Hubert]
  • Savage Blow (Non-targeted enemies caught in the crossfire of a Critical Hit suffer full damage as if they had been the primary target) [Dimitri]

Awakening Skills:

  • Awakening (Unchanged) [Lucina]
  • Clock Up (Increases Movement by 5 during Awakening) [Ninian]
  • Inevitable End (Increases the amount of Awakening meter regained from reaching KO milestones during Awakening) [Iago]
  • Dark Burst (Greatly increases the power of a manual Awakening Finisher) [OC Villain]

Pair Up Skills:

  • Dual Strike+ (Increases the rate at which the Dual Strike meter recharges when in Pair Up) [Roy]
  • Dual Guard+ (Increases the rate at which the Dual Guard meter recharges when in Pair Up) [Mathilda]
  • Professor's Guidance (Increases Warrior and Awakening gain rates for the Vanguard when this unit is in the Support position) [Byleth]
  • Solidarity (Unchanged) [Robin]
  • Dracoshield (Unchanged) [Corrin]
  • Amaterasu (Unchanged) [Azura]
  • Advocate (Increases Pair Up stat bonuses when unit is in Pair Up with a male ally) [Hilda]
  • Guardian (Increases Pair Up stat bonuses when unit is in Pair Up with a female ally) [Seteth]
  • Charm (Increases Support point gain, increases stat bonuses gained from Pair Up) [Player Avatar]
  • Veteran's Guidance (Increases experience gain rate and Weak Point Gauge depletion rate for the Vanguard when this unit is in the Support position) [Jagen]
  • Lone Wolf (Unchanged) [Navarre]

Bonus:

  • Paragon (In addition to increased experience gain, now provides +3% to all stats, so it's not deadweight at max level) [Marth]
  • Aptitude (KOs count double for unlocking weapon attributes, and also provides +3% to all stats) [Ninian]
  • Payday (In addition to boosting dropped gold, now provides +1% damage increase for every 500 gold collected mid-battle, up to 10% max) [Anna]
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12 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Chrom (Awakening) - Luna - Critical hits ignore enemy’s Def and Res.

This doesn't actually work with how damage works in the Warriors games. Defence and Resistance are division based, not subtraction based like in the main series, so you can't "ignore" them. That would end up either treating defence as 1, meaning you instantly kill the enemy, or you end up treating it at 0, which is division by 0. Either way, it doesn't work.

 

Balancing Luna and Lethality is something I would seriously hope they do in an FEW sequel (or even a definitive edition) since currently, they are extremely overpowered skills, and make luck the only relevant stat. With Lethality already being a skill that improves crits, I wouldn't make Luna do the same, even if it has a reduced effect. But right now I dislike Luna both due to being overpowered and also, how it works doesn't even care about enemy defence anyway. As an added dislike scaling on luck is weird. I'd prefer it to scale on Skill. Dividing enemy defence by a fixed amount is mathematically equivalent to just multiplying your damage by a constant. Luna in the main series is a skill that can really help you out against high defence enemies, and that's something I feel would be good to capture in FEW - making the proportional defence drop higher for high defence enemies than low defence ones. Mathematically I'm not entirely sure the best way to achieve that, but in words I'd go for something like:

 

"Skill based chance to negate some defence and resistance when using combo attacks. Bigger effect against more defensive enemies"

 

Essentially the skill ends up functioning more like it does in mainstream FE: It could have perhaps a skill/2% chance to activate, with high defence enemies taking more added damage than low defence ones. Against an Archer (low defence) it may only add 10% damage, but against an Armour Knight (high defence) at the same level, it could add perhaps 40% damage. I put the "combo attacks" in there because if the skill has some kind of brief animation/icon when it activates similar to things like Lethality's flash, you wouldn't want that activating constantly. Can probably do without it if there's no animation though.

One way this could function would be based on enemy defensive tiers. Generic enemies only have four tiers their defensive stats rest at in FEW, for example monsters have lowest level resistance, archers and mages all have identical (low) defence, but archers have medium res while mages have high res. Each of these tiers could have a % reduction from Luna, with character enemy defence reduction based on a scale that's compared to these enemies, so it's roughly in line (someone very defensive like Frederick could have the same or even slightly higher defence drop from Luna than Knights, while Linde would have a very small defence drop from Luna)

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On 1/5/2021 at 3:32 AM, Anomalocaris said:

I may as well throw in my two cents from the general describe-your-FEW2 thread.

I tweaked a few existing skills, most notably making it so all Skills that aren't actually useful in battle have a secondary battle use, like Paragon and Payday.

Characters would only have a maximum of five Skill slots, and personal skills cannot be unequipped, so you can only use four inherited Skills at a time.

Since this is a Skill thread I'll sort them by utility, rather than character.

Stat Boost Skills:

  • HP +20% [Sakura]
  • Strength +15% [Lissa]
  • Magic +15% [Leo]
  • Defense +15% [Hinoka]
  • Resistance +15% [Elise]
  • Speed +15% [Caeda]
  • Skill +15% [Takumi]
  • Luck +15% [Celica]
  • Acrobat (+2 Movement) [Saber]

KO Reward Skills:

  • Sol (Unchanged) [Cordelia]
  • Dancing Blade (Increased movement speed for 5 seconds after KOing an enemy captain)
  • Strengthtaker (+1% Strength for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Dorcas]
  • Magictaker (+1% Magic for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Mae]
  • Defensetaker (+1% Defense for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Draug]
  • Resistancetaker (+1% Resistance for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Clair]
  • Skilltaker (+1% Skill for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Severa]
  • Speedtaker (+1% Speed for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Jaffar]
  • Lucktaker (+1% Luck for every 100 KOs, max 25%) [Annette]

Offensive Skills:

  • Luna (Unchanged) [Chrom]
  • Aether (Combines the effects of Luna and Sol, at half-effectiveness. Can stack with both for 150% efficiency.) [Ike]
  • Resonating Power (Unchanged) [Owain]
  • Dragonskin (Increases Strength and Magic by 15% of Defense and Resistance, respectively) [Validar]
  • Vengeance (Works the same as before, but self-damage is now enabled manually, via the potion/staff context menu) [Tharja]
  • Trample (Unchanged) [Camilla]
  • Heartseeker (Slightly increases damage dealt to enemies equipped with Swords, Lances, Axes, or Gauntlets) [Gharnef]
  • Anti-Sniper (Slightly increases damage dealt to enemies equipped with Bows, Tomes, Daggers, or Stones) [Ursula]
  • Murderous Intent (Increases damage dealt to named targets by +10%) [Death Knight]
  • Conqueror (Increases damage dealt when in an enemy fortress) [Alm]
  • Outdoor Fighter (Increases damage dealt when not in a fortress) [Eliwood]
  • Persecution Complex (Deal +50% damage for 5 seconds after suffering damage yourself) [Bernadetta]
  • Astra (Unchanged) [Ryoma]

Defensive Skills:

  • Pavise (Also decreases damage taken from Gauntlets now) [Frederick]
  • Aegis (Also reduces damage taken from Daggers now) [Xander]
  • Pass (Unchanged) [Lyn]
  • Armored Blow (Unchanged) [Tiki]
  • Staunch Shield (Decreases damage taken and increases HP regain rate when in an allied fortress) [Dedue]
  • Wary Fighter (Guarding protects the unit from all sides, not just the front) [Lukas]
  • Counter (Unchanged) [Oboro]
  • Counterattack (When guarding, reflects some ranged damage back at attackers) [Berkut]
  • Quick Riposte (Guarding against an enemy attack increases power by 20% for 5 seconds) [Hector]
  • Iote's Shield (Unchanged) [Minerva]

Recovery Skills:

  • Quick Salve (Doubles the number of times Potions can be used per battle) [Boey]
  • Staff Savant (Doubles the number of times Staves can be used per battle) [Flayn]
  • Potent Potion (Unchanged) [Kaze]
  • Live to Serve (Unchanged) [Felicia]
  • Trickery (When using a Potion or Staff, significantly damages surrounding enemies) [Claude]
  • Wrathful Staff (Weaponized Staves such as Freeze and Pain have their potency increased) [Genny]

Meter Regain Skills:

  • Quick Wit (Unchanged) [Linde]
  • Special Spiral (Increases Warrior gauge gain for KOing enemy captains) [Gray]
  • Galeforce (Nerfed to only increase Awakening gauge regain; split in half to make Special Spiral) [Olivia]

Critical Hit Skills:

  • Seal Strength: (Reduces enemy Strength by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Rowan]
  • Seal Defense (Reduces enemy Defense by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Darios]
  • Seal Magic (Reduces enemy Magic by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Lianna]
  • Seal Resistance (Reduces enemy Resistance by 30% after striking them with a Critical Hit) [Lysithea]
  • Lethality (Unchanged) [Niles]

 

Stun Gauge Skills:

  • Staggering Blow (When the unit forcefully exposes an enemy's Stun Gauge, slightly increases the duration of Stun Gauge exposure) [Edelgard]
  • Fiendish Blow (Breaking an enemy's white stun gauge is treated the same as breaking a yellow stun gauge) [Hubert]
  • Savage Blow (Non-targeted enemies caught in the crossfire of a Critical Hit suffer full damage as if they had been the primary target) [Dimitri]

Awakening Skills:

  • Awakening (Unchanged) [Lucina]
  • Clock Up (Increases Movement by 5 during Awakening) [Ninian]
  • Inevitable End (Increases the amount of Awakening meter regained from reaching KO milestones during Awakening) [Iago]
  • Dark Burst (Greatly increases the power of a manual Awakening Finisher) [OC Villain]

Pair Up Skills:

  • Dual Strike+ (Increases the rate at which the Dual Strike meter recharges when in Pair Up) [Roy]
  • Dual Guard+ (Increases the rate at which the Dual Guard meter recharges when in Pair Up) [Mathilda]
  • Professor's Guidance (Increases Warrior and Awakening gain rates for the Vanguard when this unit is in the Support position) [Byleth]
  • Solidarity (Unchanged) [Robin]
  • Dracoshield (Unchanged) [Corrin]
  • Amaterasu (Unchanged) [Azura]
  • Advocate (Increases Pair Up stat bonuses when unit is in Pair Up with a male ally) [Hilda]
  • Guardian (Increases Pair Up stat bonuses when unit is in Pair Up with a female ally) [Seteth]
  • Charm (Increases Support point gain, increases stat bonuses gained from Pair Up) [Player Avatar]
  • Veteran's Guidance (Increases experience gain rate and Weak Point Gauge depletion rate for the Vanguard when this unit is in the Support position) [Jagen]
  • Lone Wolf (Unchanged) [Navarre]

Bonus:

  • Paragon (In addition to increased experience gain, now provides +3% to all stats, so it's not deadweight at max level) [Marth]
  • Aptitude (KOs count double for unlocking weapon attributes, and also provides +3% to all stats) [Ninian]
  • Payday (In addition to boosting dropped gold, now provides +1% damage increase for every 500 gold collected mid-battle, up to 10% max) [Anna]

I've updated all the stat boosts to 20% for offensive stats and 30% for defensive stats. I've also added combat bonuses for Paragon and other non-combat skills for their native users only (as anyone else can just unequip when not needed).

 

On 1/5/2021 at 10:48 AM, Tables said:

This doesn't actually work with how damage works in the Warriors games. Defence and Resistance are division based, not subtraction based like in the main series, so you can't "ignore" them. That would end up either treating defence as 1, meaning you instantly kill the enemy, or you end up treating it at 0, which is division by 0. Either way, it doesn't work.

 

Balancing Luna and Lethality is something I would seriously hope they do in an FEW sequel (or even a definitive edition) since currently, they are extremely overpowered skills, and make luck the only relevant stat. With Lethality already being a skill that improves crits, I wouldn't make Luna do the same, even if it has a reduced effect. But right now I dislike Luna both due to being overpowered and also, how it works doesn't even care about enemy defence anyway. As an added dislike scaling on luck is weird. I'd prefer it to scale on Skill. Dividing enemy defence by a fixed amount is mathematically equivalent to just multiplying your damage by a constant. Luna in the main series is a skill that can really help you out against high defence enemies, and that's something I feel would be good to capture in FEW - making the proportional defence drop higher for high defence enemies than low defence ones. Mathematically I'm not entirely sure the best way to achieve that, but in words I'd go for something like:

 

"Skill based chance to negate some defence and resistance when using combo attacks. Bigger effect against more defensive enemies"

 

Essentially the skill ends up functioning more like it does in mainstream FE: It could have perhaps a skill/2% chance to activate, with high defence enemies taking more added damage than low defence ones. Against an Archer (low defence) it may only add 10% damage, but against an Armour Knight (high defence) at the same level, it could add perhaps 40% damage. I put the "combo attacks" in there because if the skill has some kind of brief animation/icon when it activates similar to things like Lethality's flash, you wouldn't want that activating constantly. Can probably do without it if there's no animation though.

One way this could function would be based on enemy defensive tiers. Generic enemies only have four tiers their defensive stats rest at in FEW, for example monsters have lowest level resistance, archers and mages all have identical (low) defence, but archers have medium res while mages have high res. Each of these tiers could have a % reduction from Luna, with character enemy defence reduction based on a scale that's compared to these enemies, so it's roughly in line (someone very defensive like Frederick could have the same or even slightly higher defence drop from Luna than Knights, while Linde would have a very small defence drop from Luna)

I've updated Luna to reduce def/res by 75% on breaking an opponent's bar.

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On 1/20/2021 at 3:11 PM, Fabulously Olivier said:

I've updated Luna to reduce def/res by 75% on breaking an opponent's bar.

So in other words it's a 100% reliable and stronger lethality? Sounds really exciting.

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2 hours ago, Tables said:

So in other words it's a 100% reliable and stronger lethality? Sounds really exciting.

Still weaker than it is now. How exactly would you tune the number? 50%? 33%?

 

I am being somewhat constrained in the skill design by wanting to have a traditional Aether proc for Ike, tied to more traditional implementations of Sol and Luna.

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Dealing 4x damage on crits as a separate multiplier is not weaker than it currently is. It is stronger, much stronger. Think about how powerful Lethality is currently, it's so good that it is pretty much universally used, even on people with low luck like Frederick. A single crit with Lethality kills almost anything in one hit, if you've got a good weapon/skill setup, and even if you don't have that set up it'll probably 2hko. What this Luna basically says is every critical hit is a near guaranteed kill, and considering how easy getting crits is... You can hopefully see the problem.

 

The issue really is that constraining Luna to crits is unhelpful for making an interesting skill, when that design space is covered by Lethality. Flat damage reduction is also not very interesting when defence is a division based effect - which is why Luna is so weird in the actual game. You could tie it to strong attacks in general (charges, crits, specials) perhaps - that way it can easily have an activation chance effect (as can Sol), and it covers a slightly different design space. For effect it could be something like:

 

"skill % chance of reducing enemy defence/resistance to a fixed amount during each powerful attack"

 

Functionally, "fixed amount" here would probably mean, the same as a regular enemy with low Def/res (think wyvern rider Res or mage def), scaling based on the enemies level and if they are promoted. Maybe just below that amount, whatever. So things with low defensive stats would gain only negligible damage increases. Medium defences would take around double damage for that attack, and high defences would take about 4x damage. Character enemies would be affected somewhere in between those extremes typically. End result is it functions a lot more like main series Luna, hurting high Def enemies a lot more, but not doing much against already squishy targets.

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